Computing Technology – IBM's Acquisition of Trusteer

IBM’s latest acquisition of the Israeli cyber security firm, Trusteer, puts the company (IBM) in a stable position with regards to their client support. As IBM acquires Tusteer to a capital investment amount of $1Bn, the move is seen to boost IBM’s position in their cyber security service especially with the expansion of their cloud service offering. This has given IBM a big foot print for their clients by providing them with more security in cyber space. This according to Amit Klein, Trusteer CTO.

In spite of this, IBM cannot be considered as a stranger to cyber security since the company has been offering a number of cloud security products. With the acquisition of Trusteer, this had helped IBM bump up it’s security portfolio. According to Brendan Hannigan, GM of IBM’s SystemSecurity Division, The expertise of Trusteer and the excellent technology in end point enterprise defense and malware detection will provide our customers throughout the industry to overcome continuing threats they are facing."

Trusteer was founded in 2006 with the number of employees now totalling 300. It is one of the biggest cyber security companies providing online protection for the banking industry. Included in their list of customers are respected banking institutions such as HSBC, Bank of America, INGDirect and Société Générale to name a few.

Trusteer’s respectable reputation in the banking industry has led IBM to enter talks with the company as IBM also serves the same market. Officials knew that when IBM acquires Trusteer, the decision to do so would benefit both organizations.

Banks are known to be conservative companies but were among the first institutions to provide online services. At that time, CEO for Trusteer, Mickey Boodaei, realized many banks were facing big security problems when most of their online transactions were vulnerable to sophisticated hackers and data thieves. Although there were online security service that were being offered at that time, early versions of the program were full of security gaps. Boodaei saw this as a huge opportunity to develop Trusteer’s technology for the banking industry.

Trusteer’s initial security program was the “Rapport” which was offered to many banking institutions. The system allowed banks to incorporate the program into their client applications and websites in order to prevent any attacks. Through behavioural algorithms that can identify patterns of malware strains, Rapport had a high level of confidence among Trusteer’s client base.

Trusteer released it’s modified security program in 2010 which was termed “Pinpoint”. When placed over the network, Pinpoint is capable of detecting any virus infected device. When someone tries to connect a suspicious device on the bank’s network, bank officials are able to determine if it is from a legitimate customer or a hacker. They can flag down and boot the user off their network and report the activity to the police or authorities concerned. One of the advantages that Pinpoint provides is that it does not require any installation from the client's work station.

When IBM acquires Trusteer, Amit Klein stresses that Trusteer will join the IBM family. Their solutions will be implemented both inside and outside the company. They will continue to develop solutions to protect companies and customers within networks and in the cloud.